Like you've maybe seen, my Caster lamp stopped to work in February. Can I kick it with a BBQ igniter safely? Will it explode if I do this? (You know, these warnings on the package scare me... It says if I run the lamp when it's burnt out, the arc tube can blow up...)

well it is a mercury vapor lamp so the chances of it exploding are pretty low,but if the ignition voltage is high enough the arc might ignite in the arctube,or between the metal pieces of the metal frame,the warnings may be scary(the same warnings came with my regent lamp)but your lamp should ignite.without going boom.

Yes Vince you may be able to 'kick' it with the BBQ ignitor,if it lights, leave it running for several hours.I discovered my Caster will operate
in this fixture perfectly with out cycling or a kick start!

OK  running it for a few hours will "repair" the light bulb, right?

you said the bulb only ran 10 hours i dont see how any problems could arise that early,that needed fixing.

Running the lamp for a few hours may hopefully help restore it.Let us know if you get it to light!

Form109: I know that's hard to believe  The mercury lamp lasted ABOUT 10 hrs. (I ran it a few times for about 1 hour and a half and one time all the afternoon, 5 hrs. if you want, all this equal about 10 hrs.)

UPDATE: Now I'm adding hrs. to the lamp! I tried this morning (July 23, 2008) to light it and it starts without kick! How is this possible? Really dunno  At least the lamp works again! 

great that it works again>

I have luck  I hope you'll have luck too with your ballast...

That's great it's working again,lets hope it gives you many hours of light!

After checking it out carefully, I saw that the bottom end of the arctube blacken during the warm up for about 1 min. then unblacken. If I allow the lamp to fully warm up, no blackening will stay 

my regent does this also,i thik its because when the lamp is shut off before reaching full brightness,the mercury in the lamp becomes visable,when the lamp is run up to full brightness all the mercury vapor is vaporized and not visable.

correct!

OK I wasn't clear enough I think  Before I switch on the fixture, no blackening . When I switch on the fixture, the blackening appears for about 1 minute, then, dissapears at half-brightness. After reaching the full brightness, I can shut it off and the blackening won't appear again. This is why I don't think it's mercury because it appears only when the fixture lights on for about 1 min.

there are other causes of blackening such as sputtering but i dont think thats happining here,contaminants in the arctube can also cause temporary blackening.